Germany,
France and Britain want competitive corporate tax systems that attract
global companies to our countries and help our economies to grow. They
are a significant source of growth, investment, employment and tax. But
we also want global companies to pay their fair share of taxes.

International tax standards have struggled to keep pace with our
changing economy. This has allowed some multinational companies to
restructure their business to minimise the amount of tax they pay,
shifting the taxation of their profits away from the jurisdictions where
they are being generated, so that they pay less tax than smaller, less
international companies.

We are taking steps to clamp down on tax avoidance in our own
countries. But acting alone has its limits. Clamp down in one country
and those companies, their lawyers and their accountants move elsewhere.
In fact, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has
argued that unilateral action could even be counterproductive. That’s
why we need to act together.